Engaging America's Voters

9 Ways to Help a Campaign From Afar

If we want to see our country run on values that are important to us, we need to win elections. All of them, from the White House to a race right in our own neighborhoods. We know that the campaigns that win their elections are the ones that have a lot of people working to help them in many ways. Volunteers are gold to a campaign.

If you want to work on a local campaign, there are lots of ways to help. But if you want to help a campaign that isn’t geographically close to you, you might not know how best to help. This post is for you.

Whether your state doesn’t have any elections in 2019 or the special elections aren’t anywhere close to you, you can still help.

If you know which candidate you want to help

Go to your candidate’s website and sign up to be a volunteer. Many will ask what kinds of volunteer opportunities you’re interested in, and that’s where you can specify those actions you can do from out of town.

Of course, you can always donate. Campaigns will use donations where they are most needed, often by hiring volunteer coordinators and other important positions.

Phone bank for your candidate. The campaign will be able to tell you when they arrange for phone banking. They’ll also provide you with a script and instructions. Some campaigns put phone banking events right onto their website, but if they don’t, just contact them to inquire.

Text bank for your candidate. More and more candidates are text banking as it is a great way to reach voters and the volunteers can do it from anywhere. Again, be in touch with your candidate’s campaign staff directly to learn about these opportunities.

Promote your candidate on social media. My advice is to write posts/tweets that include helpful information: information about their policies and accomplishments, links to donate, the link to the volunteer signup form, voter registration deadlines, information about election day and where to find polling locations, etc.

If you want to find a campaign where your help is needed

You may want to help but aren’t sure who needs your help. Here are a few organizations that identify competitive elections and then create opportunities specifically designed for non-local volunteers.

Flippable – Flippable is focusing primarily on flipping the Virginia state legislature in 2019. Read about their state strategy HERE and then sign up to help out.

Postcards to Voters – All year round, Postcards to Voters has a campaign they are helping. They primarily focus on state elections (not federal). You can learn more about them HERE and sign up to start writing postcards HERE.

Sister District – This year, Sister District is focusing on some key races in Virginia and Mississippi, as those state legislatures are in a big election year. You can see the candidates they are supporting HERE and you can sign up to volunteer HERE.

Swing Left – During 2019, Swing Left is focusing volunteers around the country on registering voters through a letter writing campaign. Read more about it HERE and then click the Sign Up button to start helping.

If I haven’t listed one of your favorite organizations that has active events in 2019, please do let me know in the comments!

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